COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION BREAKUP During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the Soviet Union’s economy was strained by the attempt to match massive U.S. spending on armaments, such as a space-based missile protection system. The Soviet Union’s obsolete industrial plants, inefficient planned economy, declining standard of living, and unpopular war with Afghanistan fueled an underground current of protest. 1

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION BREAKUP (cont.) When Mikhail Gorbachev took over the leadership in 1985, he tried to address the problems of the Soviet Union by introducing a policy of political openness (glasnost) and economic reform (perestroika). 2

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION BREAKUP (cont.) Events in eastern Europe were very important in forcing change on the Soviet Union. The activities of the Solidarity labor union in Poland, the emerging alliances between nationalist and religious opponents of the communist regimes, and the economic weakness of the communist states themselves led to the fall of communist governments across eastern Europe in 1989 and to the reunification of Germany in 1990. 3

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION BREAKUP (cont.) The weakness of the central government and the rise of nationalism led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in September 1991. 1. Armenia 2. Azerbaijan 3. Belarus 4. Estonia 5. Georgia 6. Kazakhstan 7. Kyrgyzstan 8. Latvia 9. Lithuania 10. Moldova 11. Russia 12. Tajikistan 13. Turkmenistan 14. Ukraine 15. Uzbekistan 4

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION BREAKUP (cont.) Ethnic and religious divisions also led to the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. Predominantly Roman Catholic, Slovenia and Croatia became independent states in 1992. Bosnia, a more ethnically mixed region, declared independence in 1992, followed by a period of ethnic cleansing by Orthodox Serbs who attempted to rid Bosnia of Muslims. 5

COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION BREAKUP (cont.) The United States intervened in 1995, ending the fighting. New fighting broke out in 1999, however, in the southern region of Kosovo. The United States, Britain, and France joined in an aerial war against Serbia, who thought of Kosovo as their ancient homeland, to remove Serbian forces from the region. 6